Romania's Constitutional Court accepted on Thursday the claims of a businessman-politician that three articles of a law based on which CNSAS, the national body studying the archives of the communist-era secret police, was operating were unconstitutional. The decision effectively leads to the dissolution of the CNSAS once the court decision is published in the Official Gazette.

The claims of unconstitutionality against three articles Law 187 establishing the CNSAS were submitted by Dan Voiculescu, a Communist-era international trade official who after the fall of the Ceausescu regime in 1989 became a businessman and politician. CNSAS has claimed he was involved with the activities of the Securitate, the communist-era secret police. He has denied the charges repeatedly and challenged the constitutionality of the CNSAS in court.

According to the Romanian Constitution, the Parliament has to change the law within 45 days since the Constitutional Court decision, so that it comes in line with the fundamental law. That may lead to a completely new law that might lead to the same ending - the dissolution of the CNSAS.

All Constitutional Court members voted in favor of the decision. According to court sources, a key player in the decision, Ioan Muraru, strongly argued in favor of Dan Voiculescu, saying that the "Constitutional Court has to drop this unconstitutional venom from Romanian legislation". Romania's Constitutional Court accepted on Thursday the claims of a businessman-politician that three articles of a law based on which CNSAS, the national body studying the archives of the communist-era secret police, was operating were unconstitutional. The decision effectively leads to the dissolution of the CNSAS once the court decision is published in the Official Gazette.

The claims of unconstitutionality against three articles Law 1